Ore. FFs Help with Parking Mishap

A man living at a retirement community crashed his car through a cement wall Monday, leaving the vehicle teetering on the edge of a parking garage, fire officials said.

Firefighters were called to the Willamette View Manor's parking garage on River Road in Milwaukie at about 12:40 p.m.

After crashing through the concrete wall, and with the Lexus partly outside the building, the man stepped out of the car and walked back up to his room at the retirement living community, according to Clackamas fire officials.

Firefighters said they found the man in his room uninjured when they showed up at the scene.

The man told the firefighters he accidentally pushed the gas pedal instead of the brake, said Steve McAdoo, a Clackamas fire spokesman. He was wearing a seat belt at the time and his airbags deployed.

Sheriff's deputies identified the driver as 83-year-old Kenneth Schiedel. They said Schiedel had a good sense of humor about the crash and joked, "I always told them they needed another exit in here."

While there was damage to the parking garage, there was no damage to the building's structural integrity.

Clackamas fire crews secured the car to keep it from falling to the ground, but it remained teetering on the edge until a tow truck arrived.

Angie Zahler was visiting the retirement community when the accident happened.

"Its a little scary, and scary to think that people have a little trouble driving when they get a little older," Zahler said.

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